. >> reporter: at a chanukah event at the white house, president barack obama took another moment to acknowledge what the world lost. >> a moral giant who embodied the dignity and the courage and the hope and sought to bring about justice not only in south africa but i think to inspire millions around the world. >> reporter: he wasn't the only one to reflect on mandela's death. >> he was an inspiration. >> an extraordinary man a gentle giant. he is the kind of individual that the words that he spoke were so profoundly challenging to your spirit. >> he wanted to persuade the people of south africa as a whole that they did not have to be afraid of fundamental change in the country. >> reporter: cnn's twitter tracker showed news of his death spread throughout the world at nearly 100,000 tweets a minute. actor samuel l. jackson wrote, never met a better person in my life than nelson mandela. my sympathy to his family and country. others remember the man who meant so much to so many by laying flowers in his honor at the south african embassy in washington where the flag was lowered to hal